Widow Maker?

[BigDave]

With the good weather this weekend, I decided to get off my butt do some outside work. The usual spring items: clean-off the patio, fertilize, prune, etc. Of course there were jobs that I didn't get to before the winter that still needed to be done. One such job was to play amateur lumber-jack. I had an 80' Northern Red Oak die on me during last year's drought and today seemed as good as any other to take it down.

It's the one in the middle with the top bending a direction I don't want it to fall.

 

[BigDave]

First job was to assemble the tools. My Husky 372, felling bar, wedge, safety helmet w/ ear & face protection. I already put on my chaps. I did forget my chain adjuster & the hammer for the wedge...so I had to make another trip.

 

[BigDave]

IMHO, the most important safety device that is usually overlooked is another person to call 911 when things good bad. I asked the misses to keep and eye on me from a safe distance.

 

[BigDave]

This is oak & it's dead, so I had to make a plunge cut (straight in) in order to make the cut effectively. I didn't take me too long to realize that this tree was hollow. I had an arborist tell me that hollow trees were widow-makers since you could never tell what they are going to do. The may splinter, shatter, or do anything they please. If you look in center, that wood is rotted, I could have pulled 5" out with my hand on the right and about 2" on the left. This wedge cut-out is about 1/3 of the diameter.

 

[BigDave]

Success!! The tree fell, and it fell in the direction I wanted. Notice how the tree curved to the right, that was my main concern...that was before I found out the tree was hollow. What I didn't realize, was that the hollow portion was off centered towards the second cut. The misses was signaling victory in the background.

 

[BigDave]

Ooops, she's not signaling victory, she's holding up sticks that came flying towards her after the tree hit the ground. So much for safety margins. Well no one got hurt. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[BigDave]

Here's what's left. I hammered in the wedge. Once the tree took the pressure off of the wedge, I quickly removed the saw and used the felling bar to encourage the tree to continue its movement. Maybe I should have ran when the tree started to move, but instincts, whether good or bad, said to help it along.

 

[beenthere]

I've written three replys, but deleted each one of them as I don't want to hurt your feelings. I think you are lucky that the tree is down and you are safe. And your equipment list was great! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[BigDave]

Final shot. I'm standing towards the top of the tree, and now it's time to start cleaning up this mess. Oops, two cuts later, I ran out of gas. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I guess I have to wait until next weekend to finish the job, that way the ground will be harder and I can use the tractor to haul away the debris.

 

[BigDave]

Nah, you won't hurt my feelings, it was taking a while between posts since I had to resize each photo before I posted it. I guess I should have done that before hand. Thanks, for complement. The hard part was convincing my wife that I needed the saw, after that, she would let me buy almost anything in the name of safety, that is as long as it is a safety item.

I guess I do have one small additional note. The only casualty was my barbeque grill, the temperature gauge glass was broken when it was hit by a flying stick. I'm safe & the misses is safe and that all that really matters when you think about it. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif